Ben Cesario

And if a venue loses access to those concerts, it would be devastating for them economically, right?

So right off the bat, they make that argument, and there's this really striking testimony about the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

The very first witness in the case is the former head of the Barclays Center.

And in 2021—

The Barclays Center had been open for almost 10 years and had been a Ticketmaster client.

Then they decide they want to switch to a different ticketing company called SeatGeek.

The jury hears a recording of a phone call where the head of the Barclays Center is on the phone with the CEO of Live Nation, Michael Rapinoe, one of the most powerful people in music.

And Barclays tells him,

We're not using Ticketmaster anymore.

We're going with this other company.

And Rapinoe's reaction is angry.

He's dropping profanities.

He's very upset.

You hear the anger in his voice.

Well, he doesn't want to lose the account.

It's a prominent venue, right?

And they work hard to keep their ticketing deals.

So he's very upset that they're losing Barclays.

And he says to him, it's going to be a tough time to deliver tickets or concerts.

And the head of the Barclays Center testifies that he took that as a threat, saying that if you don't renew your Ticketmaster deal, you're not going to get our concerts.